Opening night is here, and it was glorious! We actually had a 5pm EST start to the day, with two games following at 8pm and 10:30. At least they spaced out the game starts on day one, because they don't for the rest of the year.

Hopefully you got your lineups set, and hopefully you're ready for the wonky schedule this week with a nearly full slate on Thursday, no games on Friday, and a full 16-game slate on Saturday, before a single game on Sunday between the Capitals and the Rangers.

In the meantime, onto some actual stats from actual NHL regular season games that have real impacts on your fantasy teams in 2025-26!

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Spencer Knight got the start for Chicago. While it wasn't a surprise, it is interesting to look at his splits from Florida/Chicago last year. Overall, his numbers with a 17-16-5 record to go with a 2.70 GAA and a .902 save percentage, look reasonable and like there could even be repeatable this year. However, his numbers solely with Chicago are a little different. In 15 games with Chicago, Knight put up a 5-8-2 record with a 3.12 GAA and a .895 save percentage. I would expect things to be a little better than those latter numbers, but his ceiling this year is likely those full-season numbers from last season, though with a much higher save volume due to more starts and more shots against.

In line with that, he allowed three goals last night against the shorthanded Panthers, though he did make 34 saves, and looked sharp.

Frank Nazar looked excellent for the Hawks, recording a point on both Chicago goals, including the opening goal of the season:

Nazar's linemates Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen each also finished the game with two points. Connor Bedard finished the game with an even rating, two shots, and three FOWs on 16 faceoffs. Sam Rinzel played a game-high 25:18, which was the only Hawk higher than Bedard's 22 minutes of ice time. Rinzel looks like he's going to be handed all the deployment he can handle this year, and should be in a great spot to turn that into both points and peripherals – he notched one SOG, one Hit, and one Block in game one.

Mackie Samoskevich paced the scoring for the Panthers with two assists. Carter Verhaeghe had a game-high five shots, and Jesper Boqvist scored the winner. Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves in the win, and while he didn't see a ton of action, he looked as acrobatic as ever, which is a great sign from the 37-year-old.

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I'm surprised by the Pittsburgh Penguins who really are letting the youth earn their ice time, and aren't letting veteran contracts get in the way of that. Danton Heinen, Ryan Graves, and a few other one-way contracts are left off the starting lineup for their opening game in favour of rookies and younger players. It will be interesting to see if this works out for them, as they try to find some way to keep a spark in the team that is right now the shell carrying the careers of Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and Evgeni Malkin to their ends. In fact, those three are the first trio in NHL history to play 20 seasons together. They have had quite a laundry list of teammates over the years, but never so many with such limited NHL experience.

The best example of that youth movement though might be in net, with Pittsburgh acquiring the Calder Cup winning goalie Arturs Silovs in the offseason, and then now giving him the opening day start over the incumbent Tristan Jarry who also has the big contract. His shutout last night certainly sets the stage for Silovs to be in more of a tandem situation with Jarry at the very least, if not the main starter outright.

Ville Koivunen is especially interesting playing on the top line, and he was pegged to me pre-draft by one public scout as having one of the best fantasy hockey profiles of players outside for the top group of names from his draft year (one of the others was Ayrton Martino though, more proof no one is perfect). He's someone worth a speculative add or watchlist depending on your league size.

Ben Kindel, a recent 11^th overall pick, is one of the names I'm most curious to see as well. He was viewed as a bit of a reach when the Pens grabbed him, but he has a chip on his shoulder now, and lots of runway to make the most of it, with an offensive pedigree to back it up.

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Justin Brazeau was playing on Evgeni Malkin's wing, and opened the season scoring for the Penguins, and added an empty netter as well while also pacing the team in SOG with six. He's unlikely hitting more than a point every other game, but 35 points and some solid SOG/Hit totals are certainly doable from the late bloomer. He had 123 Hits last season, but his scoring and value were limited due to a lower shot rate. If that continues from what we saw in game one, then he's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

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In the late game last night, the Avs rolled over the Kings and their offseason defensive additions (subtractions?), despite being outshot. Martin Necas led the way with two goals, while Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Artturi Lehkonen also added two points apiece for the front-loaded Avs.

Scott Wedgewood saving 24 of 25 shots help settle the need to rush Mackenzie Blackwood back into action.

In a bit of a surprise, Gavin Brindley earned himself a spot in the opening night lineup at the expense of Zakhar Bardakov, who is new to North America. He was a favourite of mine in his draft year, but injuries have derailed his development a little. He's a shorter player, but has a sturdy foundation and plays with an intensity that makes his size irrelevant. He was a top scorer in college playing alongside Adam Fantilli, so he knows how to play with top-tier linemates. We'll see if he gets a chance up in the lineup this year in Colorado. Last night, he played a team-low 7:50, though he went plus-one and added two Hits and a SOG.

The Kings' only marker of the night came on the power play, off the stick of Kevin Fiala. It's a five-forward unit, which is noteworthy if you were hoping for some PP production from Brandt Clarke or Drew Doughty. Instead, maybe take a flier on Andrei Kuzmenko.

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The Montreal Canadiens have already noted that they will have Sam Montembeault starting on Wednesday, and in the second game of their back-to-back set, Jakub Dobes will play on Thursday. As it's nearly a full slate, most teams might not need an extra goalie start, but if you're looking for a streamer in leagues where goalie starts are scarce, this is a reliable one that you can pencil in.

We may see the backup goalies for the Rangers and Capitals playing on Sunday, as both teams will be in the second half of a back-to-back there. Maybe look to add one of them early as there won't be many other streaming options later in the week.

As for the goalie battle in Columbus, it's murky even at the outset. Could be a win-and-you're in situation from the start.

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The Connor McDavid extension is something I'll just touch on very briefly, and it was a big surprise to see him take the pay cut he did. He has set the limit for Edmonton to win the Cup with him there, and he is going to be making at least $20 million a year when he signs his next contract in a few years. For those who own him in cap leagues, enjoy the production at the reasonable cap hit while you can.

Sounds like the Jets are working to get a long-term extension done with Kyle Connor before their opener on Thursday. The expectation is a deal with an AAV in the $12-13 million range

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There's a fun thread over on the forums with a bunch of names and some info on guys who are more surprise names to be breaking camp with their respective teams. You can find that here. Cliffy also talked a lot about lineups in yesterday's Ramblings.

If you want to keep up with the players like David Tomasek, Isaac Howard, and Easton Cowan who were initially sent down but have been or are expected to be recalled, then your best bet is the PuckPedia Transactions page in combo with the FrozenTools news page.

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There are sometimes interesting names on waivers after initial rosters are due, either because someone unexpected was claimed and made another player redundant, or because a team thinks that they have a better chance at sneaking the player through in-season as opposed to on the main waiver day before rosters are due.

One case yesterday was Alexandar Georgiev, who was waived by Buffalo after they claimed Colton Ellis on waivers. We'll see if he lands anywhere, but most goalie slots are full at the moment. More likely he ends up in the AHL, fighting for playing time with Devon Levi – who will get the preferential volume for his development.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.